Fisher Gate Over demonstrators marched through Preston city centre on March demanding "Keep Our NHS Public".
A rally at the end was chaired by Respect councillor Michael Lavalette and included a range of local and national speakers from NHS trade unions and local communities.
The march was built very quickly by the newly formed Preston Keep Our NHS Public campaign, initiated by Lavalette and NHS unions.
The central issue over the last few months has been the proposal by Central Lancashire PCT NHS Trust to establish system Clinical Assessment and Treatment Support services (CATS) centres across Preston and Chorley.
The PCT has organised public consultation on the proposal that these centres should be run by the private sector, with the South African Netcare company being the "preferred bidder".
Hundreds of local people have packed PCT meetings to angrily oppose this privatisation of NHS services, while NHS workers and trade have pointed to the threat to jobs and other NHS services if the private sector cream off key The Patchwork Privatisation of Our Health Service Published by Keep Our NHS Public, 50p plus postage. Order via www.keepournhspublic.com but simpler services.
At the Preston meetings, Michael Lavalette has managed to win overwhelming votes against the privatisation, while in Chorley opposition has come from the surprising quarters of local maverick Labour MP, Lindsay Hoyle.
Marchers on the Preston demonstration included contingents from NHS unions including Unison, Amicus and RCN.
All the speakers, including the RCN, were hostile to New Labour policy on the NHS and local MP Mark Hendrick, who has publicly supported the privatisation plan, was noticeably absent from the march.
cheers were for Valerie Wise who presented a radical and comprehensive assault on New Labour. Amicus speaker and national health organiser Kevin Coyne repeated the call from last month's € Socialist for the TUC to call a national demonstration to defend the NHS by the summer. The PCT decision will be known later in the month and if they go for privatisation there will be battles ahead.
Further information: www.prestonkeepournhspublic.org.uk
AND rS high Danny Mcintosh Thousands participated in dozens of local activities up and down the country on the March 3 Day of Action called by the NHS trade unions.
It was respectable, and drew in some important new people. But overall it was less than a rousing success, with turnout in many areas on the lower end of expectations.
Up to 1,000 people turned out in Birmingham: but that was a joint activity of East and West Midlands regions.
Manchester and Sheffield also each saw up to 1,000 on the march.
But the biggest event of the day was not organised by NHS Together: in Enfield the longrunning local campaign to defend Chase Farm Hospital claimed a turn-out of 10,000.
There were a number of marches of several hundred, including Bristol, Oxford, Woking, Preston and Cambridge.
The most encouraging aspect about these larger activities was the increased proportion of
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